"Old Zhou, where did these strange Companion Beasts come from?" Li Xuan curiously sized up the Companion Beasts Zhou Wen had summoned.
"Some of them were bought. Some were obtained when I was out training," Zhou Wen said as he lay down to rest.
Feng Qiuyan had already fallen asleep and didn't chat with Li Xuan. All he could do was lie down and sleep as well.
He slept until midnight when he suddenly heard a commotion outside. He didn't know what was happening.
"Why is it so noisy in the dead of the night? Could it be that the dimensional creatures in Dragon Gate Grotto have rushed out again?" Li Xuan said gloomily when he was woken up from his beauty sleep.
Zhou Wen and Feng Qiuyan sat up as well. Just as they were about to head out to take a look, they suddenly saw the tent door open. Then, they saw An Sheng barge in. He asked anxiously, "Young Master Wen, are you alright?"
"We're fine. What can happen to us?" Li Xuan asked An Sheng in puzzlement.
An Sheng carefully sized up the three of them and heaved a long sigh of relief after a long while. "It's good that you're fine. Stay here and don't go out. Something happened outside. After it's settled, you can leave."
"What happened?" Zhou Wen asked An Sheng.
"See for yourself." An Sheng pointed outside.
Zhou Wen and company looked out through the crack and were immediately so shocked that their jaws nearly dropped to the ground.
On the ground, walls, and tents outside, there were all kinds of mushrooms of different colors.
"Holy sh*t, when did this place become a mushroom base?" Li Xuan asked.
"Take a closer look at the soldiers outside," An Sheng said with a heavy expression.
As An Sheng said that, Zhou Wen noticed that a soldier's face was covered in what seemed like a pimple breakout. It was filled with many tiny mushrooms.
Although the mushrooms looked pretty, they made one's hair stand on end when they were sprouting from a person's face.
The soldier's face was filled with horror. He was clawing at the mushrooms on his face, but just as he pulled out one, another mushroom would emerge.
He kept pulling them out, leaving his face covered in blood, but the little mushrooms kept popping out. He was so frightened that he was already crying. He was plucking the mushrooms from his face as he cried.
There were many people like him. Although there were already officers controlling the situation, this fear made them lose their usual calm. The scene was very chaotic.
Zhou Wen and company's legs turned limp as they subconsciously touched their faces. Thankfully, there weren't any mushrooms growing on their faces.
"I don't know yet. We're investigating. In the entire encampment, only a handful of people haven't been infected with that strange thing. It's probably related to the phenomena at Alchemy Cave. You guys stay here for now. In a while, I might need you to cooperate with me for the investigations. I hope we can find out why some aren't growing mushrooms." An Sheng's expression was solemn as he rushed out.
"It's really a blessing from the heavens that it didn't infect us. Otherwise, I wouldn't know how to live if my handsome face was destroyed," Li Xuan said with lingering fear as he zipped up the tent.
"I don't think it's as simple as heaven's blessing. There must be something that prevented us from being infected by those mushrooms." Zhou Wen looked around and didn't see anything amiss.
There weren't any mushrooms in their tent. The three of them and his few Companion Beasts were fine. Tai Sui was lying near the tent's entrance, doing something there.
Since it was something invisible to the naked eye, Zhou Wen used the Truth Listener earring's ability to listen. Furthermore, he pushed it to its limits.
Upon hearing his surroundings, he immediately discovered a problem.
At the tent's entrance, there were many microbial things that humans couldn't see with the naked eye. They were undergoing random walks in the air.
Those tiny objects were even smaller than dust. If Zhou Wen hadn't deliberately used Truth Listener to observe them, he wouldn't have discovered them. Even using Truth Listener's hearing, Zhou Wen hadn't noticed them in the beginning.
The reason why he discovered their existence was that Tai Sui was actually devouring those little things. He looked like he was enjoying himself.
Zhou Wen expanded Truth Listener's range and soon discovered that there were many such tiny objects in the air outside. They were even smaller than dust, so humans couldn't see them at all. However, when they landed on the skin or something else, they would burrow into their pores and quickly sprout to grow tiny mushrooms.
As they were so small, no one discovered them. The entire encampment was filled with such tiny objects, as though it was snowing.
However, there were very few people who could see them apart from Zhou Wen. All the soldiers were at a loss as danger floated around them.
Zhou Wen reached out and tried grabbing them, but he realized that his palm couldn't grab them at all. They were too small, so it was useless to grab them. They were like bacteria. Despite knowing that they were there, it was very difficult to eliminate them.
Tai Sui was actually able to discover them and even eat them. It's quite impressive. Zhou Wen saw that Tai Sui had already finished all the tiny objects in the tent. He was eager to head out to eat more.
Zhou Wen realized that the three of them were fine because Tai Sui was here. It had eaten all the little things that had invaded their quarters, preventing them from being infected.
The military had clearly realized the problem as well. Some soldiers in antibacterial suits were spewing chemicals to remove bacteria and fungus from the encampment.
However, it was useless. Those things were clearly not something ordinary chemicals could deal with.
"Don't go out yet. I'll take a look at the entrance," Zhou Wen said to Li Xuan and Feng Qiuyan before opening the tent door.
The moment the door opened, many of those little creatures entered with the gust of wind that entered. Tai Sui immediately jumped around excitedly and devoured the little creatures that humans couldn't see.
Zhou Wen used an Essence Energy Skill, Small Fireball, that dropped from the Metalwork Temple. A scarlet flame ball flew out from his fingertip and hit the invisible things in the air.
The tiny objects were burned to ashes by the flames. They didn't appear very strong, but because they were so tiny, they couldn't be discovered. That was also why they were so dangerous.
After burning a few tiny objects to death, Zhou Wen suddenly realized in surprise that a tiny Companion Egg dropped. The Companion Egg was even smaller than the tiny objects. If not for Truth Listener's ability. Zhou Wen wouldn't have seen it at all.
He took out his phone and snapped a picture of the tiny Companion Egg. It was immediately stored on his phone.
Those little things are really dimensional creatures! After Zhou Wen saw the Companion Egg's stats, he realized the true origins of the little creatures.
Parasite Spore: Mortal